The Bruh Review: The Month I Missed: NFL Playoffs, NBA Trades and Rises and the College Football Playoffs.

A lot of things happened this last month so I really wasn't on top of my Bruh Reviews. Finishing up the semester and the holidays had a lot to do with it. Not having the access to sports at my grandma's house is another. I have cable at my house at school but at home I am working with the 10 channels an antenna gives me and the internet. No excuses, I could have still done some things but here are my observations in a kind of organized manor. I'll go with the sports and the biggest things I remembered from the last month.

NFL

• Wow somehow the Washington football team eliminated the Eagles out of the playoffs.

• The Bills lost to the Raiders, crushing their playoff chances. Somehow they beat the Patriots and after the season their coach Doug Marrone skips town. I completely understand why Marrone had an opt out in his contract. New ownership is a reasonable concern for anybody. Not quite sure why the Bills agreed to paying him though. Either way it was all weird. Also leaving the Bills for the Jets just sounds crazy.

• Going into the playoffs it's hard not to believe the Patriots and Seahawks will meet in the Super Bowl. That said, I'm going to go ahead and pick the Broncos and the Packers. 

• The Dallas Cowboys won another rare playoff game. But the win is marred by a play where the refs made the right call and then inexplicably picked up the flag. No clue how you believe in the Cowboys but the best teams don't always win the Super Bowl so I'm hesitant to dismiss there chances like I want to.

• The Bengals and the Colts had a battle of teams that I knew weren't going to matter a week from now. The Colts won but they are still the worst team in the playoffs. Yes that includes the 7-8-1 Panthers.

• The NFL Black Monday is amazing. The same handful of teams that always seem to need a new coach are back on the market. Yet all of the people that they are trying to interview are people who are former head coaches that were fired. It makes sense some times but teams should probably lean more towards coordinators if they want things to change. Just my opinion though.

• Nobody would be shocked at all if the Ravens knocked off the Patriots next week. No one.

• Predictions for this weekend: Packers over Cowboys, Ravens over Patriots, Broncos over Colts, Seahawks over Panthers.

• I was really close to picking the Panthers for no reason.

NBA

• The Detroit Pistons straight up released Josh Smith. Then promptly went on a 7 game winning streak. It's almost like Josh Smith was a bad fit (sarcasm). These guys could end up being the Raptors of this year. Call it the Rudy Gay effect. You get rid of a guy who refuses to do anything but take bad shots and your team gets better at a ridiculous pace. Letting Smith go frees Monroe to operate on the block. It lets Drummond be the force on the boards and also gives Brandon Jennings more lanes to drive. 

http://www.nba.com/video/games/mavericks/2015/01/07/0021400529-det-dal-recap.nba/

• It is an indictment on Josh Smith but not really. The problem was that he wasn't a good fit for the team and he mucked up their identity. They have the personal to be like another Memphis Grizzlies but more athletic and with better shooting. Josh Smith was just a bad fit but he isn't a bad player.

• Imagine how good they would be if they traded Smith in the offseason or just released him earlier?

• Another crazy thing is that the Pistons are in the playoff race after winning 7 games. No seriously look at the easter standings.
  

• Wow the Bucks are the 6 seed. Can't doubt Jason Kidd anymore if you ask me. He basically has the same team that the Bucks had last year. Jabari Parker is out for the year, which is a bummer but they continue to keep playing well.

• The Atlanta Hawks are the number 1 seed in the eastern conference and it is as amazing as it sounds. They just beat Portland Trailblazers--who are surprisingly the 2nd best in the West record wise-- pretty easily. They are doing it mainly with defense ranking in the top 5 in both points allowed and defensive rating. While still averaging 103 points a game. You can see where they are influenced by the Spurs as well. They are 3rd in the league in assist a game only behind the Warriors and the Celtics. Obviously I'm really skeptical to call them title contenders until I see them beat a bunch of really good teams. 

• Oh wait I just checked. The Hawks have beaten the Wizards, Cavs, Bulls, Mavs, Blazers, Rockets and Spurs. Add the Clippers and the Grizzlies to that list. These dudes are serious man and they are doing it on both sides of the ball. They are also crushing the west. Playoffs will be a different animal but we have to start taking them serious.

• LeBron didn't really look the same all year and the Cavs need him to be the old him in order to be the team we expect. They also need a rim protecting big. Make the damn trade Cavs.

• It is also a little stupid to blame the coach right now. David Blatt is a new coach. He was going into a rebuilding situation that turned into a championship aspiration. Still have to have guys buy in to his system while trying to figure out how this team plays together. Defense is still the biggest problem and that can only be solved by getting any rim protection in there.

• Okay so since I wrote this initially the Cavs have made some moves. They made 2 separate trades that this tweet sums up. 

I mean, if you look at it as JR Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov for Waiters and a first, it’s not a total disaster.
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) January 7, 2015

• Besides having to take JR Smith I really like these trades. I think they would have preferred Kosta Koufas who is a better rim protector than Mozgov but an underrated factor is that Mozgov played with Coach Blatt already and should be ready to fit with the team. Mozgov can flash well enough on offense and rebound so Cleveland wont lose much and will hopefully be able to play better defense. Shumpert should also help their perimeter defense hopefully. Now they just need LeBron to come back healthier.

•  Everybody in the west is in an arms race right now. The Rockets added Josh Smith. The Mavs traded for Rajon Rondo. The Thunder traded for Dion Waiters. Now the Grizzlies are looking to upgrade their wing rotation by looking into trades for Boston's Jeff Green and Miami's Loul Deng. Deng would probably fit their grit and grind style more but I doubt Miami trades him.

• Not sure how I feel about the Thunder trading for Dion Waiters. Waiters has talent but I have been really outspoken about how the Cavs needed to trade him. His stats look bad on and off the bench because he thinks that he is something that he is not. He thinks that because he was picked 4th overall that he is going to be a star. What he doesn't understand is that you can be a star in many different ways in the NBA. Manu Ginobili is a bonafide star because he accepted a role to come off the bench. Waiters best year was when he was off the bench at Syracuse. he shot around 52% a game in that role. He has to just relish in that role to really reach his potential. I'm not sure he does it but he is young and he can grow into something.

• The best part about the Thunder adding Waiters is that they kept Reggie Jackson. Jackson has to do better in his role too. For the teams sake and for himself. He isn't going to get this deal that he wants unless he plays well. 

• Now to the Thunder they look terrible right now losing by a lot to the Warriors and the Kings. Yes they looked bad but it was mainly because Westbrook and Durant struggled. Why? I don't know. But that won't happen very often. Westbrook was playing like an MVP at a point and so was Durant. I think they have to buckle down on defense first and really try to run an offense. They have so much scoring talent that they aren't using. Serge Ibaka needs an expanded role in the offense as well. But it all starts with them playing better defense. 
• Jimmy Butler might be the best SG in the west and I might have to do a separate article for it. His stats:

• This guy is stuffing James Harden and carrying the load on the team. He also has a whopping 6.1 win shares which ranks fourth in the league.

Oh and doing cool things like this...

The Bulls are just really good including Pau Gasol turning back the clock. This team will be hard to beat in the playoffs.

• I just did a whole thing on the Bulls and didn't mention Derrick Rose once.... Well I know I just ruined it but still.

• The Raptors lost Demar DeRozan and went 11-7 and still are 2nd in the east becuase Kyle Lowry is good. So like he's an all-star guys. 

• Oh and his coach Dwane Casey is the Bruh of the month in a good way because he said, "I hope our fans get out and vote and don't put it in the hands of the coaches. And if the coaches don't do it I'm probably going to get into a physical fight with those guys." This was regarding whether Kyle Lowry should make the all-star team.

College Basketball

• Jahlil Okafor Jahlil Okafor JAHLIL OKAFOR.

• Basically talk to me about college basketball in a month.

College Football

• Yeah Oregon ran Florida State off of the field. Florida State turned the ball over way to much but Oregon was the better team. 

• Ohio State really impressed me with how they are winning down their 2 best quarterbacks. The team is just really good. Alabama just never looked that good to me. I can't say I expected Ohio State to win but wee need to stop overhyping the SEC. They are the best conference in college football but the gap isn't as big as people make it.

• I honestly don't know who will win the championship game but it comes down to whether Ohio State can stop that Oregon fast paced offense. I don't know if they can and that's why I'm leaning towards picking Oregon but it's tough.

• Give me Jamies Winston over Marcus Mariota. Mariota is great in this scheme but I'm not sold on his ability outside of it. Winston has a long delivery but other than that looks the part as a pocket passer. Winston might need the Dez Bryant treatment in the NFL though. If you didn't know the Cowboys pay people to watch over Dez Bryant and it has worked out well for them.

Monday Spread Option 02-10-14

1. SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Missouri DE, Michael Sam came out as homosexual this weekend, what do you think it means for him and his hopes to get drafted and for the NFL as a whole?

Spencer-
For Michael Sam himself I think it just shows how courageous he is as a person to be open about being a homosexual knowing the judgement that can come with it. He broke the barrier and in a way, like Jason Collins was for the NBA has become an activist for being open about your sexuality no matter who you are or what you do. I sincerely hope he is judged by NFL scouts for his athletic ability and skill as a football player and not for anything else other than that. Obviously the media is going to make a bigger deal out of a potential NFL player being gay than what should be made in today's day and age, but that shouldn't deter a team from drafting him. When they look at Sam and his athletic resume they should decide to draft him or not draft him because they feel he is going to contribute to their team's success or not. Obviously I don't have control over that but his sexuality or the unnecessary attention that comes with drafting him shouldn't be reasons for not taking him in the draft.

Ty-
Honestly I don't know. I believe that this shouldn't be a big deal at all. Openly homosexual people have become more accepted in our community, as they should have. So my hope would be that it wont affect his draft status at all. But I will say that just because we like to believe that in 2014 homosexual people are universally accepted than we would be wrong. There is still a lot of discrimination and hate in the world. Although I don't think he will go through anything that a Jackie Robinson will go through I'm sure that he will go through his own hardship and he is a brave person to be the first openly homosexual in the NFL. But we won't know how this affects him until draft day. Mel Kiper has Sam graded as a 4th rounder. If he shows well in the combine but slips more than 2 rounds in the draft than I think that tell us all we need to know about how ready NFL teams are to draft a homosexual player. I do think that people aren't giving football players enough credit. I played football in high school with a lot of guys who are very open minded. The best thing about this is that although it seems a little late for this to happen, all you need is one person to make this no longer a problem or a big deal. This will be great for athletes who feel they have to hide who they are in order to realize a dream of theirs.

2. The Dunk Contest has a new format. Do you like it? Do you think that it will make the contest better?

Ty-
The Dunk Contest format has changed quite a bit. Now instead of head to head there will be two teams, East and West. There will be a freestyle portion where people just continue to dunk for 90 seconds non-stop and the judges decide which team wins. The winnng team decides who goes first in the second round which is a head to head portion where one dunker from one conference goes up against another from the other conference. The judges will decide each head to head matchup until one conference has won 3 matches. Each match loser is eliminated, so you could have a situation where one player has to win 3 head to head matchups in a row to win for his team. After the winning conference is crowned then fans get to vote on who the "Dunker of the Night" was.

I think that I really like the format change. I'm excited to see how well it works and if it adds more intrigue to the final event. It also helps that for the first time since the 80's there are 3 All-Star players (Paul George, John Wall, Damien Lillard) in the dunk contest. Sure it's not LeBron but I also feel like LeBron is more of a great in game dunker than he would be in a competition like this.


Spencer-
I do like the changes. I think before the NBA was having problems getting stars into it, the dunks were getting less and less impressive, this was a creative change that allowed for more of a "team" feel but still come competitiveness with people coming up with creative ways to dunk the ball. I think the togetherness or team aspect of it now promotes some of the bigger names to do it cause they all get to play as together, be creative together and do less dunks individually. Can't argue with the NBA trying to bring in a positive change to it to bring back its popularity. If not for anything people will at least check it out to see this new format.

3. The Olympics have started. What do you think will be, or should be the most watched events?

 Spencer-
 Personally, I'm most excited for the Hockey and I enjoy watching some other events like Curling cause it's just so different and the strategy to it is pretty cool, the Bobsled cause who doesn't like a sled going down a ice slide at 90 mph, and then some of the skiing/snowboarding stuff is pretty cool too. I think Americans should try to watch as many events as they can cause whether you believe it or not the Olympics is a cool way to unite people in each country around the world by showing some competitiveness but advertising togetherness as well. That being said though I think the Hockey will be the most watched. After 2010 in Vancouver when the U.S. nearly beat Canada for the gold medal in one of the best hockey games of all time I think people will be anticipating that again. I still remember all the tweets hating on Canada after that game so I know everyone wants a rematch with that team for gold this year.

Ty-
I think most people are going to tune in for the hockey portion. Specially if you are a NHL fan because they have put the season on pause for the olympics. I like watching most of the events because they are so fascinating to me. Alpine Skiing is crazy.Luge looks like it's fun to do. Bobsled, shout out to Jamaica! "Sanka, you dead?" "Yah man". Yes I just quoted cool runnings! You also can't forget about figure skating and my personal favorite, Curling. They just slide a thing on ice and the team sweeps in front of it to control where it goes! I think that it's just simply amazing that somebody though of that as a sport. 

4. There are only 2 undefeated teams in men's college basketball

left, Wichita State and Syracuse. Which team do you think can stay undefeated longer?

Ty-
I think that it is almost a little crazy that these two teams are even undefeated but Wichita State has a better chance. Syracuse is really good but they do have weaknesses. One weakness is that besides Cooney, they aren't a very good shooting team. But they find ways to win with their great front line and defense. It just doesn't seem like the Orange are a dominant team. Which is fine because they keep finding ways to win. They are coming up on a rough stretch though, going on the road to face Duke, Pitt and Virginia in 3 of the next 6 games. I wouldn't be surprised if they won all of those games but they have benefited from playing some of their harder opponents at home. Wichita State has a great team that has continued the momentum from it's run in the tournament last year but they aren't as good a Syracuse. They just benefit from being in a conference that might only get one tournament bid.

Spencer-
Although I hope my Orange pull off the undefeated season I think it is very unlikely given their tough schedule down the stretch, so I got to go with Wichita. Syracuse plays in the ACC and even though the have made the transition to the conference very well (out to a 10-0 start), they still play games with quality opponents in their eight remaining games including #25 Pittsburgh, a highly anticipated rematch at #8 Duke and #17 Virginia. It's not going to be easy to sweep those games. With that in mind I take a look at Wichita who is a well deserving to ranked team, and I see a schedule that bodes well for them going undefeated. They only have six games remaining, all against non-ranked Missouri Valley Conference foes. Enough said. Great team in a week conference could mean undefeated.

5. What did we learn this week in sports?

Spencer: Fan's think buying a ticket to the game is a free pass to be as ignorant as they want.

Look I love going to games live and in person and cheering for my teams, but there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. I think we saw that line being crossed during the incident at the Texas Tech, Oklahoma State game when Marcus Smart shoved a fan who insulted him when he fell out of bounds into the stands. Now we don't know exactly what was said but it may have been racial, and even if it wasn't I just can't accept this as a culture. Look boo all you want, disagree with a call and express your anger, but when you insult a person or label them with judgements and fallacies it's crossing the line in my opinion.

Do I agree that Smart should of shoved the guy? No, keep your composure man that's part of your job. But it's also part of a fan's job to show some respect for the game and the players playing it. People forget that sports are there for our entertainment pleasure, which means the people playing them are their for our entertainment too. Whether or not they are on your team shouldn't matter, they are still playing a childs game that we love to watch. If you're going to be obnoxious watch from your house so you can scream at the TV and your family won't judge you. But it isn't a free for all for fans just cause you bought a ticket to the game. Also if the n-word was thrown out there that is even more ridiculous cause now while Smart serves a suspension and the fan who brought race wrongly into it gets to come back next week. We expect our beloved athletes to show some character, well why don't we as fans show some damn character? Stop embarrassing yourself, and the members of your fan base.

Ty- (Editor/Side note: Does anybody believe that this guy only said "Piece of crap"? Either the Orr guy is a little kid and preceded to call Smart a "Doo doo head dumbie" and Smart is really short tempered. Or  this Orr guy is lying about what he said.)

The Detroit Pistons don't realize their problems stem from signing Josh Smith and not Maurice Cheeks.

The Pistons recently fired their head coach Mo Cheeks after the team started 21-29 in an already disappointing eastern conference.

The Pistons are the east bizarro-esqu version of the New Orleans Pelicans. Both teams added tons of talent in the offseason, but they added talent that was redundent to their roster. The Pelicans added too many guards when they traded for Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday, which resulted in poor defense and a poor record.

The Pistons did the same thing but with front court players. They added Josh Smith and forced him to play as a small forward when he has always played better as a power forward. This meant a lineup of Josh Smith, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. This resulted in bad defense, bad offense, and a poor record. Josh Smith is too slow footed to cover quicker small forwards and Greg Monroe continues to be to slow of foot to guard well ever. Meanwhile the Pistons score below the league average for points per game.

Joe Dumars was praised for putting together the Pistons team that won a championship in 2004 but maybe it is time that he is let go. He has now possibly botched two free agent periods where the Pistons had ample amount of cap space. Maybe another coach can come in there and make them a better team either for the rest of the season or next year but right now the Josh Smith signing is looking like a failure. It also hurts that the Pistons are on the verge of missing the playoffs in a conference where the number 3 seed is only 2 games over .500.
 

The NBA Season guide for the Average NBA Fan without League Pass

Kevin Durant driving on Daymond Green

I love basketball, like most of the people reading this blog. But I am also broke, also like a lot of people who will probably read this blog. 

So I unfortunately can not afford the NBA league pass. Trust me I tried to talk myself into buying the $184 dollar sports package when I was randomly flushed with a little cash. I probably would not have regretted it, but I opted not to. 

Now I know your thinking, "Why would you name this blog for the fan without League Pass". Well although I don't have league pass, like I said, I love basketball so I have an insatiable need to gain knowledge and watch as much basketball as I can. I think that I have reasonably fashioned a way around not having league pass. A lot of that has to do with reading a bunch of articles and watching a ton of basketball online when I can.

So maybe the title is ironically titled but the bottom line is that it is around the time when the average or passing NBA fan begins to pay attention to basketball. So I basically read all the articles and watch all the basketball that you can't get to because of my open college schedule. Most of us just hear the same story lines on SportsCenter and see glimpses of highlights. But you don't get the whole story of whats going on in the league. I plan to give you guys the full picture.

So maybe I should name this the Avid NBA fans guide for average fan. I'll probably change it to that at some point but I will give you 6 to 8 things that has happened in the NBA that an average fan might not know or that an avid fan might have missed.

For this first post I will give you 8 things that have happened so far this NBA season up until this point and then I will do one every couple of weeks depending on how much happens over the weeks.
First here are some stats I will probably use throughout this article and what they mean.

TS% or True Shooting Percentage	True Shooting Percentage calculates what a player's shooting percentage would be if we accounted for free throws and 3-pointers. True Shooting Percentage = (Total points x 50) divided by [(FGA + (FTA x 0.44)]
USG: Usage Rate	·       Usage Rate is the number of possessions a player uses per 40 minutes. Usage Rate = {[FGA + (FT Att. x 0.44) + (Ast x 0.33) + TO] x 40 x League Pace} divided by (Minutes x Team Pace)
PER: Player Efficiency Rating	Player Efficiency Rating is Hollinger's overall rating of a player's per-minute statistical production. The league average is 15.00 every season.
PIE	In its simplest terms, PIE shows what % of game events did that player or team achieve. The stats being analyzed are your traditional basketball statistics (PTS, REB, AST, TOV, etc..) A team that achieves more than 50% is likely to be a winning team. A player that achieves more than 10% is likely to be better than the average player. A high PIE % is highly correlated to winning.

And if you don't feel like reading the whole article here is a guide to what I talked about.

1. The Toronto Raptors

2. Demarcus Cousins

3. Anthony Davis

4. Tanking teams

5.The Portland Trailblazers

6. The Thunder/ Harden trade

7. Blake Griffin

8. Teams not progressing

Now here are some facts about the NBA season so far that you might not have known if your a casual fan.

Raptor's guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozan

1. The Toronto Raptors have been a big surprise after starting slow.

Yes if you watch ESPN then you know the Knicks and the Nets have played better in the new year but the team that has improved the most has been the Toronto Raptors. Trading Rudy Gay should be classified as some form of performance enhancing act because every team that does so gets better.

The Raptors started of 7-12 before they traded Gay to the Sacramento Kings on December 9th and have been 12-6 since the trade. They have also been a lot better on defense since the trade. They have been able to raise to the 3rd best team in points allowed on the season.

DeMar DeRozan has continued to score but has also developed as a passer. Kyle Lowry has increased his scoring from 13.5 ppg to 18 ppg and 8 assist in January. Terrence Ross has seen his production raise as well, going from 6 ppg to 13 ppg in January.

It is also worth noting that Rudy Gay has also been playing well for the Kings mainly because he couldn't get much worse than taking 18 shots a game and only shooting 38%.

Kings Center Demarcus Cousins.

2. Sacramento Kings center Demarcus Cousins has finally begun to realize his potential.

A lot of people were very high on Demarcus Cousins when he came out in the 2010 draft. Through his first 3 years he was seen as everything from a detriment to his team, a coach killer, and a goofball. Most teams and scouts saw how talented he could be in the NBA but he had not really showed that potential. Instead he opted to shot a bunch of mid range jumpers for no reason and play no defense at all.

In the 2013-14 season Cousins has started to put it together and move on from being a headache for his team and has become a headache for the competition.

Now although he isn't the greatest defender, he has had more of a concerted effort on that side of the ball. He is averaging 1.1 blocks a game and 2.8 steals a game but still giving up 54% shooting to his opponents at the rim.

His impact has come mostly on the offensive end. He is posting a career high of 23.2 points along with 11.8 rebounds a game. His PER is an outstanding 26.31, for reference Kevin Durant's PER is 30.53 and LeBron's PER is 28.97. He is playing in that kind of stratosphere of basketball greatness. Now I'm not saying he is as good as those two guys but he has taken his game to another level.

The only thing that hasn't changed for Cousins is his team's winning ways. The Sacramento Kings are a lousy 14-25 on the season but not at the fault of Cousins who is posting a PIE of 17.5%. This basically means that he has great impact on the games that the Kings do win seeing how winning teams usually have a combined PIE of over 50%. The Kings could have a bright future with Cousins.

New Orleans forward Anthony "The Brow" Davis

3. New Orleans Pelicans Forward Anthony Davis is balling!

Anthony Davis has been suffering from the same affliction that Demarcus Cousins has been dealing with this year. His team has not been good so it has overshadowed how great he has been playing. He is absolutely the best player on offense and defense for his team and they are only losing because they'r best offensive lineup is also the Pelican's worst defensive lineup.

But the Brow, (which he patented) is averaging 20.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3 blocks a game. He is also posting a PER of 26.88. His defensive numbers are also off the charts with a great defensive rating, which basically means that his team is only good on defense when he is on the floor.

A lot of people expected this when Davis was selected as the number 1 pick in the 2012 draft. But not many people expected him to be this good this fast. The Pelicans are 16-24 but should be alot better than they have been playing and may need to trade Eric Gordon for a better defender. Maybe a trade for a guy like Aaron Afflalo might help them out.

4. Teams don't know how to tank! Oh wait maybe they do.

In the beginning of the season there where a lot of teams that were supposed to "Tank" the season or be lousy in order to get a draft pick in what was hyped up as maybe the best draft since 2003. Teams like the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, and Orlando Magic were expected to lose on purpose in order to get a guy like Andrew Wiggins from Kansas.

Sixers' guard Michael Carter Williams

But to start off the season those teams were playing adverse to that approach and actually winning games early in the season. Those 4 teams had a combined record of 28-41 from October to November, Not a great record but definitely not a record of teams that would look to be tanking.

Since December though those 4 teams have posted a combined record of 33-62 which shows just how bad they have been over the last month and a half. This comes with the exception of the Suns who have continued to play well although they lost a leading scorer in Eric Bledsoe (18 points a game) this past month. The Suns are 23-17 and are in the 8th spot in the west. But without the Suns record the remaining 3 teams are still 19-53.

So although they didn't start the season as bad as teams like the Utah Jazz and the Milwaukee Bucks, they have begun to catch up. With the NBA having a lottery system it is still possible for those teams, besides the Suns, to get a great pick. It also helps that the top 6-8 picks in this years draft could be impact players.

Damian Lillard (left) and LeMarcus Aldridge (right)

5. The Blazers are playing great but are lacking defense. 

The Blazers have been great this season and have beat a lot of great teams so it's safe to say that they aren't a fluke. They have started the season 31-10 but they may be relying too much on their offensive prowess to win games now.

Right now the Blazers are 1st in scoring at 109.6 points a game but also 27th in the league in points allowed giving up 103.5 points a game. That is pretty bad for a team with a record as good as the Blazers.

Don't get me wrong they have the offensive firepower with Damian Lillard, LeMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Mathews and Nicholas Batum to outscore most opponents. But they have been lackluster on the defensive side and that could spell future trouble. They could suffer from the same fate that became of the Phoenix Suns during their run of being playoff contenders.

Although the Suns were great on offense and in the regular season, their defense was a problem in the postseason because they played teams that could slow them down enough defensively and still score against their poor defense.

The Blazers could suffer the same fate because teams like the Thunder, the Spurs, the Clippers, and sometimes the Warriors are capable of playing enough defense in the playoffs to beat the Blazers.

They have become very fun to watch although they don't get many national games, but they need to improve their defense if they want to really be a threat in the post season.

6. The Thunder did well in the Harden Trade actually.

Last year when Harden was traded to the Rockets for Jeremy Lamb, Kevin Martin, and a 1st round draft pick, many said that the Thunder had made one of the worst trades in NBA history. Last season Harden did go on to surprisingly lead the Rockets to the playoffs and the Thunder suffered in the playoffs with Russell Westbrook hurt.

Stevan Adams (left) and Jeremy Lamb (right)

What people overlooked about last season is that the Thunder still won 60 games and barring that injury could have still made it to the finals. Than Kevin Martin bolted for a starting position in Minnesota during free agency and it looked like the Thunder got little to nothing in return for Harden.

This wasn't the case. The Thunder got the 12th pick in the 2013 draft and took the 7 foot New Zealand center from the university of Pittsburgh. Many thought that he was a project and would play much this season. But he has actually averaged 15 minutes a game and is basically splitting time with Kendrick Perkins. Although he is only posting 4 points and 4.4 rebounds a game his numbers are great per 40 minutes a game. He is post 10 points and 12 rebounds per 40 minutes a game. He is looking like the future starter for the Thunder.

Also Jeremy Lamb and Reggie Jackson have solidified the OKC bench. Even though now that Westbrook is out with an injury and Jackson is now in the starting lineup the Thunder is playing well. Lamb is averaging 10 points a game and 18 ppg, 5 rebs and 2 assist per 40 minutes. They two guys from the Harden trade aren't exactly playing on the level of Harden but they have contributed well and could have bright futures.

It also does help that Kevin Durant is in the middle of what could be an MVP year and Serge Ibaka is playing alot better this year as well. Durant leads the league in scoring and player efficiency rating. Serge Ibaka has come on the last 5 games averaging 18ppg and 11 rebounds. Ibaka has also scored 20+ points in the las 3 games for the longest streak in his career. The Thunder are making out alright after the trade.

Blake Griffin passing the ball.

7. Blake Griffin is now a great player and not just a dunker.

A lot of people in the past have had mixed feeling about Blake Griffin. Some people thought that he was soft. Some thought that all he could do was dunk and some thought that he was one of the NBA's most overrated players. Some of those statements may have been true to a certain extent but he has played a lot better this year.

Although his offensive numbers are pretty similar to how he has played the last year, he is scoring a career high of 22.5 points per game matching his rookie year. his greatest impact has come with how hard he has worked to become a better shooter. Take a look at Griffins Shooting chart last year and this year.

2012-2013 season

This picture was Griffins shooting chart last year. The Green spots indicate the spot on the floor where he shot above league average. The yellow spots mark where he shot close to league average and the red spots are below average.

As you can see Griffin had a hard time shooting anywhere on the floor besides the paint. This helped to feed the narrative that Griffin was only good for dunks. But the truth is that he was a very poor shooter last year.

2013-2014 season

The consequences of his bad shooting meant that teams didn't respect his shooting ability and loaded up on Clippers guard Chris Paul. This made the Clippers offense very stagnant at times.

Now this is Griffins Shooting chart for this season. Although Griffin still has struggles from some spaces on the floor he has developed greatly as a shooter.

Now there are multiple places outside the paint where people have to worry about Griffin. He might not be the shooter a Lamarcus Aldridge or a Kevin Love might be, he has become a threat in the midrange to an extent.

Griffin has also increased his passing ability, especially in the post. He has also increased his defense. He is now post a career high defensive rating under Doc Rivers.

Griffin has also increased his play since Chris Paul's absence. Increasing his points, assists, steals and field goal percentage. It's time to give Blake Griffin a little more respect as an NBA player.

8. Too many teams not reaching their potential! 

Cleveland Cavs guard Kyrie Irving

Before the season there were a lot of teams that people though had a chance to be good this year and make a playoff run. Those teams also thought they were going to make a playoff run. But so far in the season teams like the New Orleans Pelicans, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, and the Minnesota Timberwolves have failed to realize their potential.

The have been other disappointing teams but these teams all made pushes in the offseason to make their teams better and have failed to do so.

The New Orleans Pelicans added Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday in the hopes of being really good on offense but now they are 9 games under .500 because they're dream lineup of  Holiday, Eric Gordon, Evans, Anthony Davis, and Ryan Anderson is also just as terrible on defense as they are good on offense.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had the first pick in the draft and added Earl Clark, Jarrett Jack, Andrew Bynum. They thought that they had a team on the cusp of a playoff berth but instead the Cavs are 15-26. Their first pick Anthony Bennet is looking like the worst number 1 pick ever. Clark and Jack have been under-whelming and Andrew Bynum was traded for Luol Deng because of team issues. While it has become hard to see how Kyrie Irving makes his teammates better.

Ricky Rubio (left) and Kevin Love (Right)

The Detriot Pistons added Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings to a teams full of youthful talent with Andre Drummond  and Greg Monroe. Although Drummond has still been playing great, the chemistry issues that people thought could happen with a team that had Josh Smith playing small forward has occurred. Josh Smith is not a good outside shooter and everybody knows it besides Smith. This is why the Pistons have underachieved.

The Minnesota Timberwolves added more depth in their bench with the signing of Cory Brewer, and more scoring with the addition of Kevin Martin. Although they started the season off great and have played a tough schedule, it is still disappointing that the T-wolves are only 19-21. Kevin Love was in the MVP conversation but that has died down.

 Although they can still make the playoffs if they turn it around in the second half of the season, they are still plagued by the fact that Rick Rubio cannot shoot the basketball. He isn't a threat to score from really anywhere on the court and it has effected the team. He has to increase his scoring ability for the Timberwolves to reach their potential.